Relief-valve.



PATENTED JULY 7, 1903;

H. LEMP. RELIEF VALVE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 9, 1901.

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No. 732,i3'7l.

UNITED STATES Patented iui 7, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

HERMANN LEMP,'OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

RELIEF-VALVE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 732,871, dated July 7,1903.

Application filed May 9, 1901. Serial No. 59,382. (No model.)

To all whom/it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMANN LEMP, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residing at Lynn} county of Essex, State of Massachusetts, haveinvented certain new. and useful Improve-i ments in Relief-Valves, ofwhich the following is a specification.

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The present invention .relates to what are commonly termedrelief-valves, and has'for its object to provide a valve which willstand high, pressures and which permits of regrinding of the seat andvalve independent of each other.

In certain classes of Work, notably for automobiles, where highpressures are used as high as from four hundred to five hundred pounds,I have found that the commercial valves are unsatisfactory. Where thevalveseats are made of relatively soft metal, the foreign matter, suchas chips or scale which passes through the valve with the steam andwater, is frequently caught between the valve and the seat and ispounded into the seat by l the action of thespring or other equivalentvalve-closingmeans. This means thata groove or depression will be formedand the valve will leak. It has been proposed to make valves with maleand female parts made of hard metal; but all of the makes with which Iam b familiar require that the cooperating parts be ground together.These valves are guided by aprojection on the male part, which entersthe female part, and I have found that even when the cooperating partsare ground together that ridges are frequently formed on the seat, sothat if the male part shiftsslightly the valve will notclose properly,and a leak will be the result. A still further objection lies in theform of guidet'. e., the extension on the male part-sand I havefrequently found that Where this guide is subjected to aloose piece,usually in the form of a disk,

point onlynamely, the center. .rangement the disk can adjust itself tothe seat and the pressure is uniform at all points,

having rounded edges and flat faces. This being arranged to bear on thedisk atone By this arand since the disk and valve-seat both have plainfiat surfaces they can be ground entirely independent of each other.

In the accompanying drawings is illustrated an embodiment of myinvention, wherein- Figure l is a vertical section of a valve. Fig. 2 isa plan view thereof. Figs. 3 and 4 are respectively a side elevation andplan of the valve-seat. Figs. 5an'd6 are respectively a side elevationand plan view of the valve. Figs. 7 and 8 are respectivelya sideelevation and top plan view of the sleeve which supports the filter.Figs. 9 and 10 are respectively a bottom plan view and side elevation ofthe sleeve, taken in a plane at right angles to that of Figs. 7 and 8;and Fig. 11 is a detail view of the screen or wire-gauze used on thefilter.

Referring to Fig. 1, A represents the valve casing, the upper end ofwhich is faced off true and is provided with a screw-thread for engagingwith the unionyB. The seat orfemale member of the valve is detachableand consists of a hardened-metal tubular piece 0, having a shoulder O,which rests on. top of the casing A, and asecond shoulder G which servesto center the valve-seat and prevent it from being displaced laterally.The tubular portion extends into the casing and is sep arated therefromby a space D. This gives an opening for the fluid and at the same timefurnishes the requisite amount of space for.

the disk or male member of thevalve.- The inner end of the valve-seatwhere it engages with the disk E is cut away somewhat, as at F, so as tolimit the area of the metal presented. v

The valve E consists of a hardened-metal disk having flat surfaces atthe top and hottom. The edge of the disk is rounded and is arranged tomake a loose fit within the easing A, so that it will always seat,whether the seat is perfectly true or is inclined at a slight angle. Thelatter would only happen through poorworkmanship or a defective piece ofstock. The top and bottom surfaces of the disk are ground perfectlytrue, which is a simple piece of machine-work. The surfaces ofthevalve-seat and valve being hard, a piece of foreign matter being caughtbetween them can make no indentation, and the opening and closing of thevalve will dislodge it. It is-preferable to make the disk a littleharder than the seat, so that if through long usage there should be aslight tendency to form ridges it would have no effect on the hard disk,but would simply bur over the end of the tubular seat. The disk isheld-in place against the valve-seat by means of a springpressed plungerG. The head of the plunger is enlarged, so as to form aguide, and isalso provided with a conical extension II, which engages with the centerof one end of the disk and forces it against the seat. The pointengaging with the center of the disk insures that the disk will bearevenly on the valve-seat. This arrangement will compensate for anywearing of the seat, even though the wear causes said seat to make otherthan a right angle with a plane passing through the vertical center. Itis of course evident that the surface of the disk next to the plungercan be made conical, while the end of the plunger is madeflat.Withthisarrangementthefeature of forcing the disk against the seat froma centralpointonlyisstillpreserved. The plunger is pressed upward by thecompression-spring L, which spring is seated on a collar J, the latterhaving a central bore to receive the rod of the plunger and is arrangedto engage with the adj usting-screw K,the latter being mounted in thebottom of the valve-casing. On the side of the casing is formed a bossA, and screw-threaded thereto is an outlet-pipe M.

Screwed to the upper end of the casing is a union B, and between theunion and the tubularseat is a washer N. It will be seen that the unionin addition to holding the valveseat in place supports the filter O andalso acts as a connector between it and the pipe M. Surrounding thefilter is a casing P, which is screw-threaded to the union, the upperend being screw-threaded to the pipe Q. The casing is provided with ascrew-threaded plug U, and by removing the same the filter can beinspected and cleaned. The filter consists of a tube R, having ascrew-thread at one end where it enters the coupling and a square headat the other, so that it may readily be mounted in place. The tube isperforated with a series of holes R, as shown in Figs. 7 and 10. Theholes on one side are staggered with respect to those on the other, soas to get the greatest number of openings and still preserve thenecessary strength. Around this tube is placed a fine-mesh screen S.This screen'is held in place by bands of wire T.

The action of the valve is as follows: When the pressure in pipe Q risesto a point where veasvl the compression-spring L, the valve-disk E ismoved away from its seat and the fluid passes from the valve into theoutlet-pipe M. As soon as the pressure is decreased the valve is againseated by the spring. In order to adjust the valve to afford relief atany given pressure, the screw K is moved in or out.

At times these valves get very hot, due to the excessive steam-pressure,and in service no trouble has been experienced with them either when hotenough to cause the color of the met-a1 to change or when cold. Bymaking the parts so as to have an easy-working fit the changes intemperature can have no eifeot on the operation.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States, is-

1. In a valve, the combination of a casing, a detachable piece having avalve-seat formed on one end, a valve having substantially parallel topand bottom hardened surfaces which engage with the valve-seat, a meansbearing at a single point on one of the fiat surfaces of the valve forholding it in place, at the same time permitting it to move laterally,and a guide formed on the casing for the valve.

2. In a relief-valve, the combination of a base having an openingtherein, a tube having a hardened face which forms a seat, aretaining-clam p for the tube, a hard-steel disk having twocorresponding fiat surfaces so that it can be reversed, whichdisk isloose and forms the valve, and a spring-pressed plunger for forcing thevalve against the seat.

3. In a valve, the combination of a casing having an opening therein, adetachable valve-seat mounted therein, consisting of a tube of lessdiameter than the opening and having a hardened seat and a shoulderedportion which engages with the casing and prevents lateral movement, aspring pressed plunger which applies pressure to the center of the disk,and means for adjusting the amount of such pressure.

4. In a relief-valve, the combination of a casing having an openingtherein,'a tubular seat mounted therein, which-seat has a shoulder thatcenters it in the casing, a valve, a pipe, and a union which connectsthe casing and the pipe and also serves to hold the seat in place.

5. As an article of manufacture, a valve consisting of a disk ofhardened metal having similar and parallel top and bottom groundsurfaces and a rounded edge so that when one surface is worn, the diskmay be reversed and the other surface used.

6. In a relief-valve, the combination of a casing, a valve-seat, avalve, a pipe, a filter, and a union which connects the casing and thepipe and also holds the valve-seat in place and forms a support for thefilter.

7. In a relief-valve, the combination of a casin g, a valve-seat, avalve, a coupling which holds the valve-seat in place, a filtercomprising a perforated tube which is covered by a screen and isscrew-threaded to the coupling, a pipe, and a casing'which surrounds thefilter and connects the pipe and the coup- 8. In a reliefvalve, thecombination of a casing, a hardened valve-seat, a valve comprising ahardened disk having corresponding flat surfaces and a slightly-roundededge,

a plunger mounted within the casing and provided with an enlargedconical head, guides formed on the casing and arranged to engage withthe head, a compression-spring for holda ing the plunger against thedisk, and means for adjusting the spring.

' 9. In a reliefwalve, the combination of a casing, a valve-seatcomprising a tube which HERMANN LEMP.

Witnesses:

ALEX. F. MACDONALD, DUGALD McK. MOKILLOP.

